Bye Bye Blackbird
by F4y3 Valentine
Summary: It started off rocky, but ended up in a love like the ones sprung from fairytales. Sirius quickly realized that a Ravenclaw girl named after a famous suicide wouldn't get played all that easily, and he in an attempt to make it up to her, he fell in love.
1. Chapter 1

___Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world is the property of JK Rowling and all relevant copyright holders._

* * *

**1**

_Pack up all my care and woe  
__Here I go, singing low  
__Bye bye blackbird_

_Where somebody waits for me  
__Sugar's sweet, so is he  
__Bye bye blackbird_

-o0o-

"Who's the girl next to Evans?" James asked, and with a sigh Sirius looked to see who he was talking about. James' constant obsessing with Lily Evans was starting to tire him more a little. He gave her a quick look. Long black hair, about Lily's size, and he couldn't remember ever seeing her before. So he shrugged.

"I think she's in Ravenclaw," Peter said and the other three boys sighed at the same time.

"Thanks, genius," James said. "We can all see that she is considering the colors she's wearing. I was hoping for a little more information than that."

"Why do you even care who she is?" Sirius asked.

" 'Cause, Evans has been spending a lot of time with her. Think she's her new friend."

"And?" Remus asked and sat up. "Don't think snogging her is gonna get you any further with Evans."

"No..." James looked around, and his eyes fell on Sirius. "But Sirius snogging her might."

"I'm not gonna shag some girl just so you can get closer to Evans."

"You don't have to shag her, just... see her for a few weeks and that way..."

"No!"

"Sirius!"

"Why would that even work?"

"All girls fancy you. All you have to do is give her one of those smoldering looks, and she'll follow you around like a little puppy, introducing you to her friends."

He'd never had problems finding girls, and he'd done it now and then, not like he was a virgin.

"I'll find out her name, her schedule, and you'll invite her to Hogsmeade next weekend trip," James said and he was already on his way.

"You're gonna chat up a girl you're not even interested in just so he _might_ get closer to Evans," Remus said with an amused smile while looking at Sirius.

"It's not gonna work anyway, I'll let her down easy and it'll all be good and he'll be off my back for a while." Sirius laid down in the grass with a smile on his face. "_And_ he'll owe me a favor."

It wasn't exactly fair. James had done more for him than anyone he'd ever met and that summer, between his fifth and sixth year, he'd even moved in with James' family. They'd practically adopted him to help him stay away from his own horrid family. So no matter what he said, he knew that if anyone owed anyone a favor, he was in James' debt rather than the other way around.

He turned to Remus again."You know who she is, don't you?"

"Sure," he said with a smile. Since he was a prefect along with Lili, he was the one who knew her best. To James' dismay, he didn't give anything up. "But I'll leave the fun to you two."

"Yeah. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun," Sirius muttered.

-o0o-

Two days later, James sat down next to him in the Great Hall during breakfast, dropping a parchment in front of him.

"Her schedule. Her name is Evelyn McHale, sixth grader like us, half-blood, and from what I could tell, quite pretty so it won't be that much of a task for you to have fun with her for a couple of weeks. She's also very good at Astronomy and Potions, which you might find useful," James said with a smile. Sirius wasn't that good at any of those things. "And she takes Muggle art."

"Muggle art?"

"Yeah. So do your best Mr. Charmer."

He looked at the parchment. "Alchemy?"

"Yes, that's how she met Evans, I think."

"You do realize that this might not work."

"It'll work." James started to shovel food into his mouth with a satisfied grin. "I know it will."

"What if she has a boyfriend?" Remus asked with a smile playing on his lips.

"She doesn't."

Sirius simply shook his head and shrugged again. He'd give it a try, it would probably go to hell, but at least he'd given it a shot, and James would get off his back about it. Besides, the full moon was coming, they'd have a nice run in the woods, and he'd feel better again. That was something to look forward to.

-o0o-

Two days later he saw her, or the girl he thought was her, in the library, alone by a table, and he sat down opposite her.

"Are you Evelyn McHale?" he asked and fired off a smile, which was completely useless because she didn't even look up from her book.

"No, I'm not," she answered and kept taking notes.

He took a closer look. "Oh, I... I thought you were." He was pretty damn sure that this was the Ravenclaw girl he'd seen with Evans.

"I'm Evelyn Saunders, I was however named after Evelyn McHale." She still wasn't looking up from her notes.

"Oh..." He cleared his throat and searched his mind. "She... wasn't she the witch who... she invented something."

He had not fucking idea who Evelyn McHale was, but given that this was a Ravenclaw girl, and it wasn't unusual that the house you belonged to was the same as your parents did, and Rawenclaws had a history of being clever and invent stuff—it didn't seem that farfetched.

"No. She jumped from the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York."

"She could fly?" He was really confused.

"No. She couldn't. She landed on UN limousine parked on the street, had her picture taken." She slammed her books shut, and for the first time she looked at him. She had big, almond shaped eyes, very blue and an amazing mouth. "I'm named after, what is considered, the most beautiful suicide in history." And then she took off.

Sirius was dumbstruck. Who named you daughter after a suicide? He kept looking at her and noted that she had very nicely shaped legs. In general, she was _very_ pretty and snogging a little with her didn't seem as that much of a task all of a sudden.

-o0o-

He found her again the next day, and this time he decided to appeal to her intelligence. That always did the trick with the Ravenclaw girls.

"Evelyn, just the girl I was hoping to meet."

"Really?" she asked with an amused smile and raised eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"I heard you're good at Potions, and I'm currently... lacking, a bit. Kinda wondered if you'd give me a few private classes."

"Lacking?"

"Yeah, was hoping you'd be able to help me." He fired off the smile that tended to get the girls a bit swoony.

"Cut the act, Black!" she said and that girly smile she'd had was completely gone. "What are you really after?"

"What?!" he said and tried to sound indignant. "What do you mean?"

"You don't need private lessons, so what are you really after? If it's just to get into my knickers, I'd suggest giving some other girl chocolate or something. Or that smile, I'm sure there's girls who falls for that... nasty stuff."

"Nasty?"

"Yes. Some other girl, 'cause there is no way in hell you're getting into my knickers. I wouldn't even let you into my car. That I don't even own."

"Car?"

But before he managed to collect himself, she was already on her way.

"Hang on! Evelyn!"

"No! I know what kind of a guy you are, and I'm not interested. Really not!"

"And what kind of a guy am I?"

"The kind of guy who invites a girl to Hogsmead, have some fun, possibly some shags over the next couple of weeks, and then you're done."

To be fair, he'd done that, but he wasn't that bad, and it wasn't his fault that girls threw themselves at him. He was just a guy, he had a dick and on occasion he liked to use it. So he got a bit pissed.

"Hey! I'm not that bad and that's hardly fair of you. Judging me like that."

She turned around and glared at him. "So this isn't a lame opening to invite me to Hogsmead?"

He sighed. "Yeah, but... It's not just to shag you, I'd like to get to know you."

She studied him and took a step closer. "Get to know me?"

"Yeah. Hang out, spend some time with you. Stuff like that."

She kept studying him, and then she stared at him. "Oh come on! Is this about Lily?" she asked and when he almost swallowed his tongue, she looked furious. "Merlin's beard! This is really a new low from you guys! I can't believe you. You'd... chat me up just so I'd introduce you and James to Lily. That's... disgusting!" she yelled and started to walk away. When he tried to step in front of her she pushed him away.

"Evelyn!"

"No! Really! That's... what the hell is wrong with you? Using people like that! I'm a person, I have feeling, and you just hurt them."

He watched her stomp off, and he really felt like a class A ass.

-o0o-

He found James in the Great Hall, doing some homework and sat down next to him.

"Scamming a highly intelligent Ravenclaw might not have been our best move," he said.

"What?"

"It took her about five minutes to figure out what I was doing, she's pissed..."

"By all rights," Remus interrupted him with a laugh.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. He was sort of forced to, because Remus had a point. "And she's probably gonna tell Lily, and... you can figure out the rest."

"How did you blow it that bad?" James turned around and the all drew a breath when they saw Evelyn come towards the Gryffindor-table. She leaned over next to Lily. "Oh! This is bad," James muttered.

"Yeah..." Sirius agreed.

Lily looked up, straight at them and starred daggers at them. She slammed her books together, strode over to them and slammed her books next to him and James.

"You two are the most disgusting, horrible and... _mean_ people I've ever met. Shame on you!" And then she took off, followed by Evelyn.

Remus leaned over the table towards them. "I think you blew that one."

"You think?" James said with a deep sigh.

-o0o-

Sirius went to Hogsmead without a date the following weekend. He saw Evelyn inside the quill shop. He debated with himself for a while and finally decided to go inside. She sighed loudly when she saw him.

"What?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. You were right, it was low and... mean and whatever else it was you called it."

"It was Lily, actually. Think she labeled it as disgusting and horrible," she said with a sarcastic smile. "I'm sure I could think of a few other things to call it. Like... abominable, loathsome, creepy..."

He couldn't help it, he laughed. "Very impressive. That's a lot of synonyms."

She seemed to relax a little and even smiled. "So why are you really here, this time?"

"It really was to apologize. I saw you through the window and... figured I owed you that."

She picked up her package, put a few coins on the counter for the lady behind it. A lady who smiled at him and winked.

"Well. You've apologized. Thank you for that. If you excuse me, I'm going to meet Lily, and I'm sure you understand why she's not very keen on seeing you."

"Yes, I can see why."

He watched he leave and realized he'd done that quite a few times—watch her leave, and each time he was a little more fascinated by her. And when she, this time, gave him a smiling glance over her shoulder, he knew he had a big, rather silly, smile on his face.

"You should buy her a gift, as an apology. I know exactly what she'd like."

He turned around and looked at the short, chubby woman behind the counter. "Really?"

"Yes, I do."

* * *

Evelyn was having breakfast while reading a book about famous muggler artists. Being a half-blood with a muggler dad who had been the one who raised her, she didn't _need_ it, per say, she just enjoyed it. She'd always enjoyed drawing and when she found out she could take a class in muggler art, she'd done it. She'd taken the one in wizard art as well, but actually enjoyed regular art better.

When and owl dropped a big, heavy package in front of her, she thought for a second it had been a mistake, but then saw her name on it and opened it.

It was an art set, with pencils, watercolors, brushes, ink, quill—the full set. She'd been eying it at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for months, maybe even years, but had considered it too expensive. She picked up the card and opened it. _"I really am sorry"_ was all it said, but she knew who it was from and looked up towards the Gryffindor table. Sirius wasn't there.

She picked up her things, including the art set in its beautiful wooden box and went to find him. He was sitting underneath that tree, the one they were often sitting by, looking at girls passing and when he saw her, he smiled, got up and met her.

"Why?" she asked.

"I think the card was pretty self explanatory," he answered and stopped a few steps away from her. "The lady at the shop suggested it, she said you'd been looking at it a lot. It might have been that she just wanted to sell..."

"No," she interrupted him. "I have."

"Good."

"Well... thank you."

"That all?"

"I'm not letting you into my knickers just 'cause you bought me art supplies."

He laughed. "I didn't expect you to. Paint me something instead," he said and turned around to go back to his friends.

The box was getting was too big to carry around the full day, so she went back to the Ravenclaw tower to stash it by her bed. She couldn't help herself and opened it again. It really was beautiful, and she happened to know exactly how much it cost. She'd been pining for a really long time and had been saving up. Actually getting close to being able to buy it without ruining herself in the process. He must really be sorry or _really_ want to help his friend getting closer to Lily.

-o0o-

Lily was very practical about the gift. "You got it, be happy about it, but don't let it ruin your judgement."

"I'm not going to," Evelyn said. "But it did cost a lot. I mean... I've been saving for ages. And it's beautiful."

"So... draw him a picture of a few naked women, and I'm sure he be thrilled."

Evelyn laughed. "I'm not gonna do that!" She looked at Lily. "How long has James been chasing you?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "It started to get really annoying last year. This year it's been more in the line of what he did with you. Sort of sneaking around the back way."

"And we hate him—because?"

"He's and arrogant asstwat. Hexes people left and right, just generally messing with people because he can and... so smug and annoying. Not even mentioning he's shagged every willing girl in the school."

"Those are good reason," Evelyn agreed. "One of them seems okay though. The one with lighter hair... Remus, is it?"

"Yeah. He's okay. At least not _extremely_ annoying. You know him?"

"We had a few classes together during our fourth year. He was away a lot."

"Yeah. Think it's his mom who's sick or something."

Later that night Evelyn started to paint something for Sirius. It wasn't a naked woman. She would've been able to do that, but didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Instead she did a painting that was more typical to her usual style. It took her a couple of days and instead of handing it over, she went up to the owl tower and sent it to him. Just for the heck of it.

He found her the next day in the library.

"Wanna tell me what that was?"

"A mechanical butterfly."

He looked at her. "I'm trying to figure out what that implies."

"Nothing," she said with a shrug. "I just like doing things like that."

"Okay," he said and sat down on the other side of the table. "I liked it. It was really nice."

She didn't answer, she had no idea what to say and instead nodded. He sat in silence for a while and then smiled. It was a very annoying smile, because he looked incredibly good when he did it.

"Soooo... Evelyn, what are the chances I can convince you to see me again? Not because of James or Lily, but because I'd like to."

"I'd say slim to none."

He chuckled. "I'll take slim since I think they were non-existing just a few days ago. I guess I'll just keep trying to wear you down."

She eyed him cautiously and was annoyed when she realized that she would like to see him again. Or more... start seeing him. Or something like that. But she was still not sure why he wanted to. Since he had basically said that he'd keep asking her, she assumed she could wait until he asked the next time and try to make up her mind about what she really wanted until then.

"Well, I'm sure you know where to find me."

"I'd say I can find you whenever I like," he smiled and got up. "Until next time."

"Next time," she answered and turned her attention back to the book.

-o0o-

"Would you loath me if I agreed to... see him," she asked Lily.

"Sirius?"

"Yes. He's... I'm not sure what he is."

"Playing you?"

"Yeah. That's probably what he's doing," Evelyn said with a sigh and looked at her friend. "I should probably stay the hell away."

They were lying on the grass by the lake. Evelyn on her belly, drawing, and Lily on her back reading a book. The book was currently resting on her stomach, and she looked at Evelyn.

"What is it that is starting to change your mind?"

"He's... persistent, and by now he knows I'm not going to introduce you to him or suggest a double date."

"Good, because I wouldn't agree to either of those things."

"I know." She laid in silence for a while and then turned over to her back as well. "I don't know... it's probably stupid of me."

"Maybe, but you might get a nice shag out of it. I've heard he's very good."

"That's not gonna happen!"

Lily just laughed. Evelyn was still a virgin, she had been to dates, but generally hadn't been all that impressed with the guys. She knew Lily was a virgin as well, so the comment was obviously meant just as teasing. On the other hand, it was a warning as well. Guys like Sirius expected that when they were 'seeing' a girl, and she wasn't prepared to do it. Not... with someone like him. Someone who it didn't mean something to.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world is the property of JK Rowling and all relevant copyright holders._

_Thank you so much for the follows, favs, and Review!_

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**2**

Evelyn soon realized that Sirius was nothing if not persistent, though, because he came to find her three days later, and this time she was really surprised to see him. It was after classes, and she was in the clock tower court yard. It wasn't that common place for her to be or a place were people usually hung out at all.

"How did you find me?" she asked when she saw him coming towards her.

"I have my ways," he said with a smile and sat down next to her. "So there's no use to try to hide. If that's what you're doing here."

"No. I was just trying to get some privacy. Having people around me the entire time... it tends to get to me sometimes. I'm not used to it."

"Didn't grow up in a big family then?"

"No. It was just me and my dad. His parents are dead, and... I never even met my mother's family. They didn't like Dad much."

"Because he was a muggler?"

"Yes." She had no idea why she was telling him these things. She was usually a pretty private person, but she'd gotten a disturbing letter from her dad earlier that day and that was one of the main reasons that she'd wanted to be alone.

"So your mom is... is she dead?"

"No."

Her mom'd had a depression, ran away from home, met her dad, got pregnant, had Evelyn. and named her after the most beautiful suicide before going back to her family—saying she didn't want anything to do with a half-blood. Evelyn's father hadn't met or heard from her since.

He'd told Evelyn about her, always in a respectful matter, but it was hard to hide the truth; she didn't want Evelyn. She was ashamed of her half-blood daughter.

"I ran away from home this summer," Sirius blurted out. "Or... I left them and they, sort of, decided I wasn't a part of the family anymore. They consider me a blood traitor."

She looked at Sirius, rather stunned by that confession. There had been rumors, of course, that he was living with the Potters. That he was on ends with his family had been pretty clear since the very beginning, it had been even more obvious when his brother had started at the school, being sorted into Slytherin. His mom's howlers were hard to miss as well. That was the point with howlers, after all.

"I guess we both are somewhat of a disappointment to our pureblood parents," she said and tried to look anywhere but at him. "Although, I only have one of those."

"Which lovely crazy pureblood family is your mom from?"

"Greengrass."

"Oh. We are distant relatives then."

"Wouldn't we be no matter what pureblood family she was from?"

"True," he agreed. "But with Greengrass it's actually more distant than with a lot of the others."

"In general you're probably related to most people here then?"

"A lot of them, at least."

"Nasty," she mumbled, and Sirius started to laugh.

"I try not to think about it too much."

"I bet. Could be disturbing to find out you've banged your aunt."

He laughed again and looked at her when she stood up. "Since I've said I was going to keep asking, think you'd agree to see me?"

"I'd say we just saw each other," she said with a smile and left him sitting on the ground.

* * *

Sirius was sitting on his bed, looking at the Marauder's Map, following the marker for Evelyn Saunders. She was currently walking towards the Ravenclaw tower, probably for the night. He'd left her alone the last two days, but was still keeping an eye on her now and then.

"Again?" James said when he walked into the room and flopped onto his bed. "That's a bit creepy, you know."

"Like you haven't done this with Lily," he muttered and kept looking as she walked through the common room to the dormitories. He assumed she was going to bed and closed the map. "Besides, you should be glad. This is what you wanted."

"No. I didn't want my best friend to get all lost in a girl. You're starting to look rather miserable."

"Oh," Remus said with a smile when he came into the room. "I expected to find you hunched over that map."

"He just put it away," James answered in his place. "Starting to think I did him a huge disservice when I suggested him snogging that girl a little. He's really obsessing."

"Yeah, I know," Remus sighed. "So I'm now sharing room with _two_ guys obsessing about a girl. Guess I have to count myself lucky since it's not the same girl."

"I'm not _obsessing_. She's just... different. And..."

"She's not swooning whenever you're around," Remus said and took off his clothes.

That wasn't it. Or maybe that was a little the reason, but it was also... he wanted to know more about her. Her comment about her pureblood mom not wanting her, why on earth she'd been named after that woman, and what it was like to grow up with a muggler dad while knowing you were a witch. That must've been strange.

And... he wanted to taste those lips, because bloody hell, they were amazing. So full, pink and they looked so _soft_. Her black, curly hair was created to be fisted when making out. Then there was those eyes. So pretty. He had no idea how he could've been at Hogwarts for more than five years, into his sixth, without noticing her before.

"It's strange that I've missed her," he mumbled.

"Yeah... especially since we ended up waiting for her for a really long time that first day," Remus muttered.

"What?"

"Don't you remember? The hatstall. The hat could decided what house to put her in. Took seven minutes which apparently was almost a record."

He did remember that. Or he remembered that the professors had started looking a bit stressed when some girl sat on the chair with the sorting hat on for a really long time. How the silence in the room turned into a small buzz and how Minerva had talked to the girl afterwards. He'd heard that she was one of those who'd gotten stuck in a hatstall as well.

"That was her?" James asked.

"Yeah," Remus said in a yawn.

"How do you even remember those things?" James again.

"I didn't remember that it was her, Lily mentioned it the other day."

Sirius listened to his friends falling asleep and then reached for the map again. When he opened it he cursed once again about them not having thought about how names could overlap. When there were four girls in one room it was damn hard to see who they were and they hadn't added anything that allowed them to move names around when they're on top of each other. Then he noticed that there were only three names there and he had a feeling it was Evelyn's that was missing. He started to search the map, and considering it was late at night with not a lot of people walking about, it didn't take him long to find her, walking through the hallways and towards the astronomy tower. Since it wasn't wednesday, it should be empty now and he quickly got dressed, took the map, James' invisibility cloak and went towards the tower.

She stared at him when she saw him.

"How do you do that?"

"Told you," he chuckled when he sat down next to her, "I have my ways."

"Your 'ways' are starting to freak me out a little."

It was dark and he couldn't see her all that well, but she didn't sound freaked out. She sounded amused.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep. Thought some air would make it better."

"You know that it's not allowed to sneak around in the middle of the night."

"I'm sure you know all about the rules. It's always best to know them so you know when you're breaking them."

"Precisely," he said and since his eyes were getting used to the dark, he could see her more clearly now. "And it allows me to blackmail girls into seeing me."

"How would seeing you be different to what we're doing now?"

"I wouldn't have to stalk you to see you."

"Will you keep stalking me if I say no?"

"For a while longer." He smiled at her. "But I'll stop if you agree and only meet you when you want to."

"Hmmm... I kind of like being surprised, so I'll keep saying no."

Oh, he liked that answer. A lot! "I'll make you a deal, I'll keep stalking you, but if you tell me you want to be alone, I'll leave you."

"Will you ever tell me how you find me?"

"Probably not." He got up and held out a hand for her. "But, I'll make sure you get back unnoticed every time."

"How?"

He held up James cloak and smiled. "With this." He stepped closer and enclosed them both under the cloak. "Now you just need to stay quiet and no one'll see us."

It was exhilarating having her so close when they silently walked towards the Ravenclaw rooms. He could smell her. Since becoming and animagus, he'd noticed that his sense of smell, even when not a dog, had become enhanced and being this close to her was intoxicating. It actually distracted him to the point where he almost missed Filtch and the only thing rescuing them was that she obviously wasn't as distracted as him and pulled them towards the wall, pinning him to it. With her back towards him, she held them there, and he could feel her holding her breath. He decided it was best if he did the same, since he had her hair just underneath his nose. It didn't help, though. He could still feel himself stiffen, and he just hoped she didn't notice.

Once Filch had turned the corner, she grabbed his hand and they carefully started walking again.

"This cloak is amazing," she whispered. "Is it yours?"

"No. It's James'. He doesn't mind me borrowing it." She was still holding his hand, but he didn't think she thought about it. "I hope you don't get the riddle wrong. You could be standing there waiting for a long time if you do."

The Ravenclaw tower didn't have a password, you had to get the riddle right and if you didn't, you were forced to wait until someone else came to let you in. He'd be more than happy to wait with her.

"It hasn't happened so far. I'm in that house for a reason."

They were at the top of the stairs, in front of the door leading to the tower and he wished it would've taken longer to get there.

"The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?" the bronze eagle said.

Sirius had no damn idea and for a second his hope got up, thinking he'd get to spend the full night with her, but those wishes were crushed quickly.

"Steps," Evelyn answered and then turned to him. "Until next time you do your creepy finding me thing."

"Yes. Until then," he smiled and then pointed towards the open door. "Are the riddles always like that?"

"Pretty much. Night," she smiled and disappeared through the door.

He went back to the Gryffindor room and put the map and the cloak into James' chest and laid down on his bed. She'd pretty much given him permission to stalk her, and he was going to do that until she told him to back off. Definitely.

-o0o-

"Wanna tell me where you disappeared last night?" Remus said with a smile.

It was just the two of them. James was at Quiddish practice and they hadn't seen Peter in a while. They were lying underneath the tree with their eyes closed.

"Noticed she wasn't in her bed," Sirius said with a smile.

"She's gonna freak out if you keep showing up no matter where she is. I might not know as much as you and James does about girls, but they tend to get uncomfortable if you keep showing up."

"I offered to only meet her after we'd agreed, but she said she liked surprises."

"You really are a dog," Remus laughed. "No idea how you do it."

He noticed someone standing next to them and opened his eyes. It was Lily and she looked angry. Very angry.

"I'm going to make this very clear," she said, glaring at him. "If you hurt her, I'll introduce you to the instant scalping hex."

"What?" he said and sat up, staring at her.

With a cruel smile she squatted down, leaning towards him. "I know how you value those dark curls. Would be a shame if you lost them. Along with your eyebrows, eyelashes and..." her eyes wandered down to his crotch, "other areas. Although, I've heard that it does make it look bigger."

Remus chuckled next to him, but Sirius stared at her in horror as she stood up, turned around and strode off.

"I like her," Remus laughed and laid back down.

"Think she'd do it?"

"Without a doubt." He was still laughing.

"It wasn't _that _funny."

"The comment about making it look bigger was."

Sirius chuckled. "It was. Wonder if she's right."

"Give it a try." He was still laughing a little. "Report back to me about the results."

"I will."

-o0o-

He managed to contain himself that night when he noticed her wandering the corridors. And the two night following, but the third, he grabbed James' cloak and held it up, looking at him.

"Have fun," was all James said.

He knew she was in a bathroom on the sixth floor. It wasn't in use, and the Marauders had used it when they read up on becoming an animagus. It was actually in this room he first transformed into a dog. He didn't see her when he first came in, but heard her.

"I must say, you're not much of a stalker." He turned around and noticed her sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with a book in her lap. "I've been wandering the halls every night lately, and I was starting to think you've given up."

He sat down next to her. "I take it you missed me." It was actually quite thrilling to think that she'd been walking around, hoping that he'd show up.

"I wouldn't say 'missed'," she said with a smile and put the book down on the floor, "but if I have a stalker I expect him to lurk in the shadows when I walk around all unprotected."

"Maybe I did, but under the cloak. I might've followed you every night and you just didn't know about it."

"Ah! Didn't think about that. I'm gonna have to start throwing hexes around randomly. From what I heard, you seemed very interested in certain aspects of the instant scalping hex."

"Oh, yes. I can report that she was right, about... some of those aspects."

Instead of blushing, Evelyn laughed out loud. When he thought about it, he'd never seen her blush.

"She's a clever girl."

"What are you reading?"

"It's a muggler book. My dad sent it to me." She picked it up and held it up. "One hundred years of Solitude."

"Sounds boring," he said and took the book from her.

"It's not. It's... amazing." She took the book back. "Not sure how much sense it would make to you, though. It's... mugglers, after all."

"I'd be willing to give it a try."

"I'll lend it to you when I'm done."

"So..." he started. "There's another Hogsmead weekend coming up, think you'd go with me?"

"Uhhmm..."

"Or I can just keep stalking you," he said cheerfully, but it didn't feel nice at all.

"It's not... that I'm ashamed, or anything." She looked at him and must've noticed his expression. "I was hexed, the other day, by one of your admirers. And Lily caught another one trying to give me some hexed fudge, and... things like that. I wanna make sure it's worth all the fuss before I confirm the crazy bitches' suspicions."

He laughed. "Okay. I'll keep stalking you, but just so I know, you wondering around at night is an invitation to stalk?" He stood up and held out his hand to her, helping her off the floor.

"It might be. I guess asking you how you _know_ if I'm wandering around is still futile?"

"Yes." He picked up the cloak. "Shall we?"

She nodded, and he enclosed them both in the cloak. When he carefully slid his arm around her waist, holding up the other in front of them, she didn't object. Unfortunately, they didn't meet anyone and soon they were by the Ravenclaw door.

"It is yours, but for others to use. What is it?"

"My name," Evelyn answered and the door opened. "Night," she mumbled, but didn't look at him.

She waited a few seconds and then left. It wasn't until he was on his way back that he realized that she'd been waiting for him to kiss her and he cursed his own stupidity. How the hell had he missed that? He never missed opportunities like that!

He was still angry by the time he got back into the dorms.

"All good?" James asked.

"I missed a shot. I can't believe I missed a shot!" All three of the oters chuckled, and he threw himself down on his bed. He held his hands in front of him. "She was waiting for it, and I didn't do it!"

"Sirius Black missed a shot. Ladies and gentlemen, mark this day in your calendar," Remus chuckled.

"Shut up. The lot of you, just shut up!" he grumbled before turning to Remus. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Remus said with a smile. Even he had started to like his transformations these days, simply since he had company.


End file.
